Legislation: National Assemly of RA http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1349&lang=eng CRIMINAL CODE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA 18.04.2003 Non official translation General Part Section 1. Criminal legislation Section 2. Crime. Section 3. Punishment. Section 4. Exemption from criminal liability and punishment. Section 5. Peculiarities of criminal liability and punishment for minors. Section 6. Measures of medical enforcement. Special Part Section 7. Crimes against man. Section 8. Crimes against property, economy and implementation of economic activity. Section 9. Crimes against public security, computer data security, public order and morality, and public health. Section 10. Crimes against environmental safety Section 11. Crimes against state power. Section 12. Crimes against military service. Section 13. Crimes against peace and human security Section 14. Closing provisions. General Part Section 1. Criminal legislation Chapter 1. Principles and objectives of criminal legislation Article 1. Criminal legislation of the Republic of Armenia. 1. Criminal legislation of the Republic of Armenia consists of this Code. New laws which envisage criminal liability are incorporated into the Criminal Code. 2. The Criminal Code is based on the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and international principles and norms. Article 2. The objectives of the Criminal Code. 1. The objectives of the Criminal Code are as follows: to protect from criminal encroachment human and citizens’ rights and freedoms, the rights of legal entities, property, the environment, public order and security, constitutional order, as well as to prevent crime. 2. To implement these objectives, the Criminal Code stipulates the grounds for criminal liability and the principles of criminal legislation, and determines which dangerous acts are considered criminal offences for the society and establishes the types of punishment for the committal of these acts and other penal and legal measures. 1 of 98 17/05/2010 15:14 Legislation: National Assemly of RA http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1349&lang=eng Article 3. The grounds for criminal liability. The only ground for criminal liability is crime, i.e., committal of an act which incorporates all elements of crime, envisaged by criminal law. Article 4. Principles of criminal legislation. The Criminal Code is based on the principles of legitimacy, equality before the law, inevitable liability, personal liability, liability in accordance with the offence, individuality of justice and liability, and humanism. Article 5. Principle of legitimacy. 1. It is only the criminal law that decides whether the act is criminal and punishable, as well as other criminal and legal consequences. 2. The application of criminal law by analogy is prohibited. Article 6. Principle of equality before the law. The persons who committed a crime are equal before the law and are subject to criminal liability regardless of sex, race, color, language, religion, political or other beliefs, national or social origin, ethnic minority identity, birth, property, or other statuses. Article 7. Principle of inevitability of liability. 1. Each person who committed a crime is subject to the punishment envisaged by criminal law or other legal and penal measures. 2. Exemption from criminal liability and punishment is possible only in the event of the grounds and conditions envisaged in the Criminal Code. Article 8. Principle of personal liability. The individual is subject to criminal liability only for the offence committed personally. Article 9. Principle of liability in accordance with the offence. 1. The person is subject to criminal liability only for the socially dangerous action or inaction and its socially dangerous consequences, of which he was found guilty by a competent court. 2. Objective incrimination, i.e., criminal liability for infliction of damage without guilt, is prohibited. Article 10. Principle of individuality of justice and liability. 1. The punishment and other legal and penal measures applied to the person who committed an offence must be fair, appropriate to the gravity of the crime, to the circumstances in which it was committed, to the personality of the criminal; they must be necessary and sufficient to correct the criminal and to prevent new offences. 2. The repeated conviction of the person for the committal of the same crime is prohibited. Article 11. Humanitarian principle. 1. The Criminal Code serves to provide the physical, mental, financial, ecological, etc. security of man. 2. No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatment or punishment. Chapter 2. Operation of the criminal law in time and space Article 12. Operation of the criminal law in time 2 of 98 17/05/2010 15:14 Legislation: National Assemly of RA http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1349&lang=eng 1. The criminality and punishability of the act is determined by the acting criminal law at the time of committal of the offence. 2. The time of committal of crime is the time when socially dangerous action (inaction) was committed, regardless when the consequences started to take effect. Article 13. Retroactive effect of criminal law. 1. The law eliminating the criminality of the act, mitigating the punishment or improving the status of the criminal in any way, has retroactive effect, i.e., this law is extended to the persons who committed this act before this law had taken effect, including those persons who are serving the punishment or served the punishment, but have a record of conviction. 2. The law stipulating the criminality of the act, making the punishment more severe or worsening the status of the criminal in any other way, has no retroactive effect. 3. The law partially mitigating the punishment and, in the meantime, partially making the punishment more severe has retroactive effect only in respect to the part which mitigates the punishment. Article 14. The effect of the criminal law with regard to persons who committed crime in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. 1. The person who committed a crime in the territory of the Republic of Armenia is subject to liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. 2. The crime is considered committed in the territory of the Republic of Armenia when: 1) it started, continued or finished in the territory of the Republic of Armenia; 2) it was committed in complicity with the persons who committed crimes in other countries. 3. In case of crimes committed in the territory of the Republic of Armenia and other states, the person’s liability arises under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, if the person was subjected to criminal liability in the territory of the Republic of Armenia and unless an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia prescribes otherwise. 4. The person who committed a crime on board of a ship or flying aircraft bearing the flag or the identification of the Republic of Armenia is subject to criminal liability, regardless of their whereabouts, under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, unless otherwise stipulated in an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia. Also subject to liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, is the person who committed a crime on board of a military ship or aircraft of the Republic of Armenia, regardless of their location 5. The issue of the criminal liability of foreign diplomatic representatives and other persons enjoying diplomatic immunity, in the case of committal of crime by the latter in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, is resolved in accordance with the norms of international law. Article 15. Effect of criminal law with regard to persons who committed crimes outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia. 1. The citizens of the Republic of Armenia who committed crime outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia, as well as stateless persons permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia, are subject to criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, if the act committed by them is recognized as a crime in the legislation of the state where the crime was committed, and if they were not convicted in another state. When convicting the above mentioned persons, the punishment can not exceed the upper limit for punishment in the state where the crime was committed. 2. The citizens of the Republic of Armenia who committed crime outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia, as well as stateless persons permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia, are subject to criminal liability under Articles 384, 386-391, 393-397 of this Criminal Code, regardless whether the act is considered or not considered 3 of 98 17/05/2010 15:14 Legislation: National Assemly of RA http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1349&lang=eng a crime in the state where the crime was committed. 3. Foreign citizens and stateless persons not permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia, who committed a crime outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia, are subject to criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, if they committed: 1) such crimes which are provided in an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia; 2) such grave and particularly grave crimes which are directed against the interests of the Republic of Armenia or the rights and freedoms of the RA citizens. 4. The rules established in part 3 of this Article are applicable if the foreign citizens and stateless persons not permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia, have not been convicted for this crime in another state and are subjected to criminal liability in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Article 16. Extradition of persons who committed a crime. 1. The citizens of the Republic of Armenia who committed a crime in another state are not extradited to that state.